Bonding
by Alidiabin
Summary: During the dinner that happend before 'Boxed In' Ziva and Abby bonded over thier mother issues.


**Title: **Bonding**  
Fandom: **NCIS**  
Author: **Alidiabin**  
Words: **1,275**  
Disclaimer: **I own nothing**  
Warnings/ Spoilers: ** season 3 and general **  
Parings:** none**  
Summary: **One thing allowed Abby Suctio and Ziva David to bond a mutual dislike of a certain parent.

_**Bonding**_

It was no secret among the pumpkin walls of NCIS, that forensic extraordinaire Abby Suctio did not like the newest member of team Gibbs Ziva David. It was also apparent that Ziva was not massively desperate to make Abby her friend. The rumour mill was flooded with possible reasons, from Ziva making a move on Abby's ex McGee to them being lesbian lovers in the past.

The truth was much less interesting to the accountants and legal personnel who were the gossip hub of the federal agency. It was simple Abby did not like Ziva because Ziva was somehow involved with Ari Hazwari the man that killed her best friend Kate Todd and therefore Abby felt she could not trust Ziva. Ziva did not wish to warm up to Abby because she did not play nice with female co-workers having lost her sister and become fearful of making a female friend as close as she and Tali had once been in case the vengeful Gods took her away.

What made to gossip mill turn at warp speed were the possible reasons the pair had become friends after the team (minus Tony) ate dinner at Ziva's house. Strange suggestions were conjured up to explain their sudden bond from them bonding over the same TV show or a mutual ex to as one rather juvenile geek from cyber crimes said a threesome with Jimmy Palmer united them. The actual reason was much more simpler they bonded over them both having a dislike (bordering on hate) for their respective mothers.

Abby Suctio sat in Ziva David's apartment as much as she hated to admit it, she was pleasantly surprised. The assassin had a nicely albeit rather boringly decorated apartment. The walls were a soft mocha and mostly plain except for a mirror and postcards. The piano which sat against the wall perhaps where a TV would in any other apartment, on top of the ebony coloured piano was a set of candles lined up neatly in a row. Despite inviting her colleagues to a dinner party the square wooden coffee table was where they ate.

McGee looked at Ziva's mac with a confused look on his face.  
"Oh Tim I do not want to trouble you, the laptop's probably just not adjusting to life in America" Ziva said as she took a sip of wine. Jimmy was fiddling around with her piano and Gibbs was muttering something about shelves in Ziva's kitchen. The kitchens current storage system included leaving almost everything out on the counter or on top of the fridge as there was highly limited storage. Abby was beginning to wonder if Ziva had invited the men over for a working bee and if the men could possibly refuse.

Ducky was admiring the postcards on Ziva's wall, they were in two columns of five in matching black frames. Abby drifted towards Ducky who was recounting a tale of young and unrequited love in Zurich.  
"Have you ever been Abigail?" Ducky asked.  
"Nope" Abby said as she admired the ten identical frames, Ziva had postcards from Zurich, Vienna, Santiago, Jerusalem, Haifa, Eilat, Dieppe, Berlin and Montreal.

The tenth frame was at the bottom of the two columns, out of eye line from both Abby and Ducky. It was a photo perhaps fifteen years old; it had a very young Ziva dressed in olive army uniform next to a girl perhaps five years younger and with similar features. The girls t-shirt had a peace sign on it. Abby briefly smirked at the irony of what the two girls were wearing; one dressed for war the other advertising peace. A woman stood next to teenage Ziva, she had similar features to Ziva but a far lighter colouring she looked to be in her late forties perhaps even early fifties. She had light brown hair with just tiny hints of silver reflecting in the Israeli sun. Abby was drawn to her hazel eyes; they had a desperately sad look in them.

"That's my mother and my sister" Ziva uttered, Abby looked up to find the Israeli had silently migrated across the room to lean against the mocha coloured wall between the piano and the photos. Abby gulped they had heard the tragic tale of Tali David, from Director Sheppard a few weeks before as the anniversary loomed.  
"You look kind of like your mother" Abby said only slightly lying they did have a similar facial structure.  
"I am nothing like my mother" Ziva said rather angrily. "And I refuse to become anything like her" Abby suddenly looked up at Ziva. A look of recognition was shared between the two women. _So you hate your mother too_ Abby thought.  
"When was the last time you spoke?" Abby asked. Ziva looked down.  
"Twenty-One" Ziva paused. "And you?"  
"When I was twenty-two" Abby uttered. "Can I ask why?"  
"Rivka did not want me ending up like my father, so she banned all boyish activities from the house after they got a divorce" Ziva smirked for a second. "She all but kicked me out when I told her I had joined mossad, she said I was already halfway to ending up like Eli. She hated him for what he let mossad do to him and how it effected her"  
"Gloria didn't like the whole Goth thing" Abby said. "She was really religious and said I brought the devil in, she didn't let me near my Dad when he was dying. My parents probably wanted to divorce. My Dad had been deafened by a blast in the Vietnam war, but my mother was born deaf, so if they divorced they would have no one, they were so desperately dependant on each other. I think my Gloria resented my Dad for trapping her"

The men looked up at the women, all of the men adored their mothers whether they were alive or dead, were completely surprised that Abby and Ziva were so angry at their mothers. Though McGee was secretly rather pleased they were talking more than just civil small talk. Gibbs smirked as Ziva poured wine while they shared secrets.

Later that year as the spring flowers blossomed and mothers Day came near, Abby finally had an ally. Someone to hang out with when McGee and Jimmy went to visit their mothers, when Ducky took his out, and when Gibbs and Tony privately memorialized their mothers.

"Do you think you'll ever make peace with her?" Abby asked Ziva as they ate chocolate cake in a café. Ziva leaned over and took a bite of Abby's cake just as she had done with Ziva's two minutes before hand.  
"I would like too" Ziva said as she looked at the window at an arguing blonde haired mother and daughter with dyed green hair. "Maybe one day, what about you?"  
"Maybe" Abby said as she looked at the same mother and daughter, if Abby's lip reading was right they were arguing over a boy. "Don't be silly" Abby whispered. "You can't control her life forever."  
"Let her choose" Ziva uttered. "Then pick up the pieces when she falls down" both the Goth and the Israeli turned back to their cakes both yearning for their mothers yet too stubborn to pick up their phones. Neither of them noticed the mother and daughter on the street make up with a massive hug and promises on both sides.

Many years later, after Ziva had become an American the other NCIS employees would watch Abby and Ziva smile and laugh at the Christmas party while Tony did a bad impression of McGee, still none the wiser to what had made them firm friends.

**A/N:** Because I always got the vibe that neither Abby nor Ziva had much contact with their mothers any more, I wrote this, I also wanted to explain the sudden bonding between the two after 'Boxed In'.


End file.
